We almost know the words by heart because we have so often heard John’s story of the woman caught in adultery [JN 8:1-11]:

“Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

However, Fr Simeon, a Trappist monk at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, MA, reminds us that we must “open our heart so that the mercy of God can enter it and have its healing and life-giving effect there.”

Repenting of all our wrongdoing makes us capable of receiving the mercy that God is always extending to us.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation can “open the door to a new life,” Pope Francis has said, “as the merciful God enters our lives.”

During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Pope invites us Catholics to renew the grace of our Baptism by going to Confession often and with a contrite heart: “The Church teaches us to confess our sins with humility, because only in forgiveness, received and given, do our restless hearts find peace and joy.”

Our prayer today: Jesus, you saved the condemned woman from death by stoning. Through your boundless mercy, save us who open our hearts to your life-giving love.